MR. ANDREW JACKSON BORDEN
The Bordens were probably the prominent family of Fall River through the end of the Federalist Period. As recorded in History of Bristol County, Massachusetts by D. Hamilton Hurd prior to 1812 much of what is now the city on both sides of the river was owned by Bordens with Thomas Borden owning two saw mills and a grist mill. One of the first maps of the town made in 1812, drawn by a Borden, comes from this book and shows the property owners. The family name that appears most often is Borden. Another name that appears frequently on this map is Durfee. Col. Joseph Durfee built the first cotton mill in the city in 1813. The other victim in the Borden murders was Abby Durfee Grey Borden. The Durfee’s were nearly as prominent as the Borden’s in the early economic history of the city and the two families often intermarried.
The Borden family tree shows a large extended family. This is especially true of Andrew’s generation. The two main divisions of this branch of the family were Richard Borden’s line, to which Andrew Jackson belonged, and the line of Richard’s brother Thomas. Uncle Thomas owned those three mills mentioned above and his descendents had most of the “old” money in the family. All those mill executives on the 1877 map were from Uncle Thomas’ side of the family.
Andrew’s father Abraham came from the poor side of the family. He was a fish monger. Andrew first worked as a lumber merchant and undertaker. He had a good sense for business. He and his business partner William Almy did quite well and earned a reputation with Dunn and Bradstreet as quite credit worthy. The net worth of their firm, as can best be determined from the Dunn and Bradstreet records, increased over the years. As he acquired more capital Andrew began to invest in real estate. Again he did quite well and by the 1880’s his fortune was estimated at near $1,000,000.
Economically Andrew Borden moved from the working class to the upper class. Psychologically he remained a fish monger’s son and lived a frugal life with few extravagances or “unnecessary” trappings. This is where the problems with his daughters began. The social life of the members of class into which Andrew and his family had moved was as important as the business life. Among the extravagances Andrew did not indulge in was a house that could support the social obligations of a member of the affluent class or an address in the right part of town.
The other missing piece was a wife who actively managed the social life of the family. Abby Borden came from the poor side of her family and matched Andrew in the lack of social acumen. This not to say she was ignorent of or shunned the public obligations expected of the wife of a prominent businessman. For example an article on the first annual meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Y.M.C.A. in the Fall River Daily Globe from May 20, 1891 lists Mrs. Andrew J. Borden as a committee chair. Also listed as a committee chair was Mrs. Robert K. Remington the wife of one of the richer citizens of Fall River and mistress of the house at 451 Rock Street, currently the home of the Fall River Historical Society.
